Simultaneous production of aromatic chemicals and ammonia adsorbent by pulse-current pyrolysis of woody biomass

Abstract

BACKGROUND The production of chemicals and functional materials from renewable biomass resources has received considerable interest. In this study, rapid pyrolysis was conducted using pulse-current heating for simultaneous production of aromatic chemicals and functional char. Japanese cedar wood was pyrolyzed at various temperatures by pulse-current heating, and compositional and structural changes in the degraded products were characterized using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Raman spectroscopy, and carbon/hydrogen/nitrogen analysis. RESULTS It was found that ammonia was adsorbed on the char obtained from pyrolysis at 500 °C and observed a sharp dependence of the adsorptivity on the pyrolysis temperature. Under these conditions, phenolic compounds such as guaiacol, catechol, 4-vinyl guaiacol, and vanillin were produced as the major components of the pyrolysis oil. Deoxygenation proceeded linearly as a function of pyrolysis temperature, and pyrolysis at 800 °C produced aromatic hydrocarbons such as naphthalene, acenaphthylene, anthracene, pyrene, and platform chemicals such as benzene, toluene, and styrene. CONCLUSION The functionality of residual char as an ammonia adsorbent and the coproduction of aromatic chemicals is reported as a new process designed for efficient use of woody biomass. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry